Door check and closer



C. W. PARKER. DOOR CHECK AND CLOSER.

APPLICATION FI'LED JULY 1.19m.

1 4 1 4, 6 Ptented May 2, 1922 Z SHEEISSHEEI 2- (5? J5 J3 ATTORNEY we ae and! CHARLES VJ. PARKER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR- T0 E.KITTREDGE, EDW. M. LYONS, AND IVIABLE E. LYONS, ALL OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS.

DOOR CHECK AND CLOSER.

matinee.

Application filed July 1, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Crmnnns V. PARKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door Checks andClosers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a door check and closer adapted tomechanically close an open door in such a manner that the door will beprevented from slamming.

The device contemplates the provisionof means whereby the door will beclosed wlth sufficient force to enable the latch bolt to move intolatching position but the closing movement will be checked sufiicientlyto prevent a too sudden closing or jar of the door against the doorframe.

Devices for accomplishing this general result are well known and theygenerally involve the utilization of heavy oils or air.

The inherent difliculty with the proper performance of such door checksis that where liquids, such as oils and the like, are used, theviscosity of the oils change due to varying temperatures and atmosphericcon ditions so that they require more or less personal attention toadjust them for the constantly changing atmospheric conditions.

here air is used, the piston leathers become hard and readily leak afterthe checks have been in use for a while so that they do not perform asefficiently after they have been in use for any considerable period asthey do when first installed.

It is the purpose of my invention to provide a door check and closerwhich will depend solely upon mechanical means for effecting the closingmovement of the door and likewise provide the necessary retardation toeliminate liability of the door slamming.

My invention also contemplates a novel construction whereby thenecessity of using screws and the like may be eliminated and the cost ofmanufacture maintained at a minimum on account of simplicity. of partsand ease of assembly.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1922..

Serial no. 481,891.

It is alsoan object of my invention to provide a simple construction ofdoor check and closer whereby the same may be conveniently reversed fromright to left or arranged so that it may be secured to permit the armsto operate in vertical planes.

- The novelarrangement of the mechanism as well as the detailsofconstruction embodied in the form of my invention selected forillustration will be specifically described hereinafter, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective viewof a door check and closer constructed in accordance .with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a disassociated perspective view of the mechanism minus theoperating arm andlever for connection to the door frame.

F 1g. 3 is a cross sectional view through the casing and cover, thespring being shown in elevation.

Fig. 1 is a detail perspective view of one end of the operating shaftand the brake band support.

Fig. 5 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view through the devicewith the parts assembled.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view showing the position of the parts whenthe door is moving into open position, and

Fig. 7 is a like view showing the position of the parts when the door ismoving into closing position.

Referring now to the drawings by numorals of reference 1 designates ahousing or case for the mechanism and it is shown as tubular in form,having oppositely disposed wings or bracket members 2 and 3 by means ofwhich the housing or case may be fastened to the top rail of the door.The bottom of the tubular housing lis closed by a removable cover plate41, which has side flanges 5 and 6 to engage the grooves 7 and 8 on thehousing whereby the plate 4 may be secured in position and said plate isfurther provided with a central opening 9, adapted to be closed by apivoted shutter 10, pivoted thereto as at 11 so that access to theinterior of the housing may be had without removing the cover plate 4:,as will be apparent hereinafter.

The top of the tubular member or housing 1 is closed by a cover 12,having a central shaftreceiving opening 13 surrounded by a. polygonalboss .LI whereby a wrench may be applied to turn the cover plate for thepurpose of adjusting the motor spring which actuates the door closer.

The cover 12 is provided with a clownwardly extending peripheral flange15 having a plurality of slots 16 therein, to be engaged by verticallyslidable detent 17, shown as abolt in the vertical slot 18 of thehousing (see 2).

The cover 12 is also provided with in wardly projecting pins 19 and 20,which may be introducec into the peripheral groove 21 through thevertical slots 22 and so that when the pins 19 and are out of alignmentwith the slots 22 and 23, the co er will be held against displacementbut ill be permitted. to turn about the axis of the housing member 1.

Depending from the lower face of the cover plate 2 are two lugs :24; and25, spaced apart to provide a slot :26 to receive the lip or bent end 27of a coil spring 28 which constitutes the actuating motor for effectingthe closing of the door. The coil spring 28 has at its inner end a lipor angular projection .29, which may engage in the longitudinal slot 30on the shaft 81, which projects through the opening 13 and whichis'provided with a mutilated portion having a flat face 32 to bereceived by the mutilated socket 33 on the crank arm or lever 23%,having a pivotal connection with the link 35 as at 86, the link beingadapted to be fastened to the door frame by the ball and socketconnection 87. The link is shown as consisting of two members 38 and 39,having adjustable screw threaded connection, as shown in Fig. 1., butthe specific construction of the link constitutes no part of myinvention, such links being well known in the ordinary door checkconstruction.

The lever 34 is held. on the shaft 31 by a nut 40, as will be clearlyapparent by reference to Figs. 1 and 5.

The coil spring 28 is shown as provided with a band 41 to prevent itfrom uncoiling beyond a determined amount.

0 one end of the shaft 31 is a brake band carrier and brake actuatorsupport, shown as comprising a disk 42, having spaced flan es l3 and al. lhe flanges 4-3 and ll are provided with openings 45 and 4:6 in whichthe bolt l7 and the head 48 respectively are guided. T he bolt 4? isrigid with the head 4-8 and its free end is adapted to bear against anarcuate spring 49, the ends of which lie in the notches or grooves 50and 51 of the respective brake band members 52 and 53, supported uponthe flanges 43 and ll through the medium of the pins o l and for theband member 52 and 56 and 57 for the member 58. The band is slotted forthe pins 54 and 56 so that they may move outwardly, swinging on the pinsand 57 when the bolt 41-7 is urged against the spring 19 through theactuator element 58, shown as a roller in a recess 59 and adapted toride upon the incline or cam face 60 of the head 48. The roller 58 willbe urged against the inner face 61 of the housing 1 by the springs 49and if desired, this sprin may be augmented by a coil spring 62 aboutthe bolt 47, one end of which bears against the flange 43 and the otheragainst the nut 63 adjacent to the threaded portion 64: which engagesthe head 48, it being apparent that by turning the nut 63 the distancebetween the outer end of the bolt 1-? and the cam 60 can be increased ordiminished, varying the tension upon the spring 49 and by reference toFig. 5, it will be apparent that the tension on 49 may be varied byswinging the cover plate 10 to uncover the opening 9 so that a wrenchmay be introduced through the bottom of the casing 1 without disturbingany of the other mechanism.

It will be apparent that when the parts are properly assembled and thedoor is swung to open position, the roller 48 will drop into the deepportion of the recess 59, as shown in Fig. 6 so that the door may beopened without any resistance offered by the check other than thatrequired to wind up the spring 28. hen the operator releases the door,the shaft 31 will turn in an opposite direction under the influence ofthe storedup energy of the spring so as to tend to move the door toclosing position. The roller 48 will ride up on the high portion of thecam or incline 60, as shown in Fig. 7, slightly reciprocating the head48 and bolt l? against the bowed spring 59 so as to expand the brakeband men'ibers 52 and 53 against the inner face of the housing so thatwhile the spring is urging the door to closing position, the band isoffering resistance, it being understood, however, that the force of thespring will preponderate over the resisting effect of the brake so thatthe door will move to closing position at a retarded speed and it willcontinue to move until the roller l8 rides into the depression 65 whenthe brake will be inoperative.

The door will at this time, however, be

almost closed so that its acceleration, due to the unretarded spring,will just be sufficient to move it into latching engagement, the brakebeing off at this time.

By reference to Fig. 7, it will be seen that there are two depressions,one designated 65 and the other 65, the depression 65 serving in thesame way as 65 when the mechanism is reversed; that is, when the bolt47, head 48 and complementary parts are in diametrically oppositepositions to that shown in the present drawings, it being sometimesdesirable to reverse the parts on account of conditions encountered.

l Vhen the door is opened again, the roller 48 will run down into thedeep portion of the grove 59, as shown in Fig. 6, so that the door canbe readily opened, winding up the spring and storing enough energy in itto move the door to closing position as soon as it is released. Theroller will then run up into the shallow portion of the groove, as shownin Fig. 7, to again apply the retarding brake, as will be wellunderstood.

It is to be observed that there is slight .play between the brake bandmembers 52 and 53 and the pins 54 and 56 so that they may readily expandand it is also to be observed that the tension on the spring can bevaried by sliding the detent 17 toward the bottom of its slot 18 andturning the cover 12 either to decrease the tension or in crease thetension the required amount and then moving the detent 17 into one ofthe slots 16, which happens to be opposite the slot 18.

Liability of the cover accidentally becoming removed during this timewill be eliminated by the pins 19 and 20, which will ride in the groove21.

Attention is also called to the fact that appropriate brake facings maybe provided so that there will be an efiicient braking effect when theroller 48 rides into the shallow portion of the groove 59 and that anyappropriate material may be used.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that a device constructed inaccordance with my invention will efiiciently function as a door checkand closer without the necessity of employing either air or liquid andas a result, the disadvantages of the use of such mediums will not beencountered since the operation of the various parts are purely undermechanical control and in no wise depend upon air or liquid mediumswhich are liable to leak or vary the performance of the check and closerdue to changes in Viscosities, resulting from atmospheric variations.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. In a door check and closer, the combination with a spring-actuateddoor closer, a retarding means comprising a split brake band, a brakeband expander, and a longitudinally movable bolt for actuating theexpander during the rotation of the door closer in one direction.

2. In a door check and closer, the combination with a rotatablespring-actuated door closer, a retarding means comprising a fixedmember, an expansible brake band to frictionally engage the same, abrake band expander, a longitudinally movable bolt for actuating theexpander, and a cam-actuated means for imparting movement to the bolt.

3. In a door check and closer, a cylindrical casing, a spring-actuateddoor closer in said casing, a split brake band carried thereby, atransversely located, longitudinally movable bolt, means actuated by thebolt for expanding the band, a head on the bolt havlng a cam groove, anda roller in the groove for imparting longitudinal movement to the boltand head.

4. In a door check and closer, the combination with a spring-actuateddoor closer, means for varying the tension of the spring, means forretarding the movement of the door closer, the second mentioned meanscomprising a split band, a bowed spring for expanding the band, a bolthaving movement to cause the spring to function, a head on the bolthaving a cam groove, a roller in the cam groove, and a fixed member overwhich the roller moves and with which it is 1n constant contact.

5. In a door check and closer, a cylindrical casing, a spring-actuatedrotatable door closer, a split band carried thereby, an expander forsaid split band comprising a bowed spring, the opposite ends of whichexert thrusts against the respective end portions of the split band, abolt bearing against the central portion of the spring, a head having acam groove, and a roller in the groove bearing against the inner wall ofthe casing.

6. In a door check and closer, the combination with a cylindricalhousing, a springactuated rotatable door closer in the housing, a splitband carried by said door closer, a bolt supported thereby, a bandexpander controlled by the bolt, a cam head on the bolt, and a rollerco-operating with the cam head to bear against the inner face of thehousing.

7. In a door check and closer, the combination with a cylindricalhousing, a spring-actuated rotatable door closer in the housing, a splitband carried by said door closer, a bolt supported thereby, a bandexpander controlled by the bolt, a head on thev bolt having a camgroove, and a roller in the cam groove bearing against the inner face ofthe housing, said housing having a roller-receiving notch to receive theroller to release the pressure against the spring actuator.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CHARLES W. PARKER.

